Apparatus for welding large pipes with a beam of charged particles



Dec. 9, 1969 F. R. SCHOLLHAMMER 3,483,352 APPARATUS FOR WELDING LARGE PIPES WITH A BEAM OF CHARGED PARTICLES 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fild June 8. 1967 De 9. 1969 F. a. SCHOLLHAMMER 3,483,352

' APPARATUS FOR WELDING LARGE PIPES WITH A BEAM OF CHARGED PARTICLES 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 8. 1967 F. R. SCHOLLHAMMER 3,48 APPARATUS FOR WELDING LARGE PIPES WITH Dec. 9. 969

' A BEAM OF CHARGED PARTICLES 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 8, 1967 Dec. 9, 1969 F. a. SCHOLLHAMMIER 3,433,352

APFARATUS FOR WELDING LARGE PIPES WITH A BEAM OF CHARGED PARTICLES FiledJune 8, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Dec. 9. 1969 F. R. SCHOLLHAMMER 3,483,352

APPARATUS FOR WELDING LARGE PIPES WITH A BEAM OF CHARGED PARTICLES 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 8. 1967 OQASQ v Sbbbvk United States Patent US. Cl. 212 -121 16 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the welding of pipe for pipelines the existing method involves elaborate manual steps which are not only time consuming but also unpredictable because of its susceptibility to weather conditions. The manual weld of, for I instance, a standard inch thick pipe with a 30 inch outside diameter consists of various welding steps. The first step is called the stringer bead, the second is called the hot pass, the third is referred to as a filler weld pass and the last is called the cover pass. Of these weld passes the stringer bead and the hot pass must be performed within a fixed time period from one another, say about minutes, in order to preserve the metallurgical characteristics of the weld zone. The stringer bead weld pass occurs in the root of the pipe joint and is sufficiently strong to support the pipe. Before the hot pass is applied a grinder operation which also needs to be manually performed, removes and cleans the stringer bead weld area to allow the hot pass to be placed upon clean material. Each of these weld passes requires several welders each of which will take several minutes to perform his task.

The expertise of the manual welders is significant indeed to permit the formation of these annular welds with the varying weather conditions and with the complicated overhead Welding required for the portions of the seam at the bottom of the pipe. Nevertheless no additional pipe can be added until the stringer bead and the hot pass welds have been made and the fastest rate that a pipe can be laid depends entirely upon the speed with which these welds can be made. Accordingly, top quality welders are employed to perform the stringer bead and hot pass welds. Also, it is customary to utilize for a 30 inch pipe a team of welders each of whom is responsible for a particular segment of the weld seam Thus for one" stringer bead, there may be some 3 welders operating at the same time. The discontinuities associated with this manual process could adversely affect the weld quality as opposed to pro ducing a continuous weld from an automatic process. It is understandable that with the multitude of manual welding involved the reliability of the Weld seams cannot approach that of automatic Welding. Furthermore, the numerous passes necessary to perform the filler Weld and the cover pass require that the entire welding operation be spread over a considerable distance thereby exposing a substantial section of the pipe in the trench at any one time. Also, the uncertainties involved in the utilization of manual welders requires that the various welding group operations be separated in time and space to accommodate variations in the welding progress made by these separate welding groups. Inspection of the final completed weld further extends the entire welding operation which may become spread out over a distance as much as miles. On the other hand, if single-pass welds could be produced at the head of the line and thereby reduce the distance of spread of the exposed portion of the line to several hundred yards many advantages would be obtained. For

instance the scheduling of work and estimation of costs could be done much more precisely. Furthermore, a significant improvement in the laying of safe pipes can be expected.

Electron beam welding as performed in accordance with the process described in the Steigerwald patent 2,987,- 610 provides a unique Welding method for accomplishing a pipeline weld with a single pass. As described in this patent assigned to this same assignee, the electron beam upon reaching a predetermined power density will penetrate the entire workpiece, the thickness of the pipe, and permit the welding thereof without the requirement of several passes. The heat imparted to the workpiece by the electron beam is of such intensity and so geometrically controlled that the rate of welding lends itself advantageously to the laying of pipe.

The use of an electron beam for welding with sealed localized evacuated chambers has become known in the art. Note for instance US, Patent 3,301,993 where a localized vacuum is produced immediately beneath the beam. However, the pipes considered for welding do not have smooth surfaces and do not lend themselves suitably for a sliding seal arrangement between the pipe and the electron beam welder. Also the environment in which these welds must be made is far removed from laboratory or even factory conditions. Picture for instance, the effect the desert sand of New Mexico, the salt air adjacent oceans and the varied terrains will have on sliding seals that must maintain vacuum of 10- torr.

On the other hand it has recently been found useful and practical to employ a fixed non-movable chamber with seals placed between it and large pipe for producing the desired vacuum.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an annular apparatus and a method for welding large pipe with a beam of charged particles.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus for welding pipe with a beam of charged particles wherein the beam of charged particles is placed in an evacuated annular chamber which is in sealed relationship with the pipe and travels in an annular fashion relative to the pipe to perform the desired work.

It is still further an object of this invention to provide a unique device for operating and controlling a beam of charged particles placed in an evacuated apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the accomplishment of the objects mentioned heretofore, the following figures showing the invention in a preferred embodiment are described.

FIG. 1 illustrates the field use of this invention when the pipe is being laid and welded.

FIG. 2 illustrates the annular pipe Welding chamber for the traversing electron beam and the cable feed mechanism for controlling and operating the electron beam.

FIG. 3 illustrates the traversing mechanism of the electron beam in more detail.

FIGS. 4 and 4A illustrate the seam follower used in this embodiment.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show the reel mechanism for supplying the power and control to the traversing electron beam within the evacuated chamber.

FIG. 7 illustrates the sealing mechanism on the inside of the pipe.

In FIG. 1 a pipe section 10 is to be joined to the already laid pipe 12. The pipe 10 is supported from a vehicle employing a conventional boom supporting mechanism. The boom may be mounted on a vehicle 14 01' separate therefrom as the case may be. An annular electron beam chamber structure 16 is supported from the vehicle 14. The chamber 16 is split into three compartments or segments, 18, 20, and 22. These are hingeably connected together to form an annular chamber and when connected form a central hole adapted to fit about the pipes 10 and 12. Although the electron beam annular chamber 16 is shown broken into three sections it could be split into half. The use of a fixed third compartment such as 20 provides a parking arrangement for the electron beam apparatus when the chamber is not in use and reduces scufling of the seals. The third compartment is so sized that it substantially encloses the electron beam apparatus when that is to be parked therein.

The pipe 10 includes at the time of welding a chamber locating ring 24. The function of this ring is to space its edge 26 a known distance from the end 28 of pipe 10. This may be accomplished by providing levers 30 on each of the three sections on which the locating ring is made. Each of these levers 30 has a lip for catching the edge 28 of the pipe 10 to space the ring the distance equivalent approximately to the length of the lever. Since the center of the electron beam apparatus within the annular chamber 16 is known the spacing of the locating ring and the length of the levers 30 is made accordingly so that the snug positioning of the entire chamber 16 to the edge 26 of the locating ring permits the location of the electron beam within deflectable limits of the welding seam.

Internal to the pipe 12 is positioned an alignment clamp and seal 32. This device has both the function of rounding the edges of the pipe 12 and 10 for proper mating thereof as well as providing proper vacuum sealing of a small chamber directly below the welding seam 74. The clamping features of the device 32 are not shown in detail since they do not form part of this invention.

The annular chamber 16 has its compartments shaped to contain an annular traveling electron beam apparatus as set forth in more detail in FIGS. 2 and 3. On the vehicle 14 are a power supply 34 and vacuum producing equipment 36. The power supply and the vacuum equipment are well known devices and therefore are not shown in detail. A vacuum hose 38 is illustrated to be connected from the vehicle 14 to the annular chamber 16.

The three equal compartments of the chamber 16 provide a fixed compartment to which the vacuum and control access means may be permanently attached with suitable flanges. The three segmented chamber 16 will close such that minimum scufling of the seals 40 on the inner surfaces of the chamber 16 will occur. As illustrated in FIG. 1 dual seals are employed in the pipe facing walls 19 of the chamber 16 and walls 21 of the segments facing one another. The two movable compartments 18 and 22 are fastened to the upper compartment 20 by hinges which are actuated by trunnion mounted power cylinders 43. The hinge compartments are secured in place on the pipes 10 and 12 by a quick latching power actuated lock 23. The volume enclosed by the chamber 16 and the pipes 10 and 12 will be evacuated to a hard vacuum, approximately 10 torr, the pressure required for operating an electron beam gun. The operator console may be attached to the vehicle 14 and coupled to the gun in the chamber through a cable mechanism.

In FIGS. 2 and 3 the chamber 16 assembly as well as the electron beam gun and carriage assembly are illustrated in greater detail. The chamber 16 is shown with the compartments 18 and 22 locked and in fixed sealed relationship with compartment 20. An electron beam gun carriage assembly 58 is illustrated to be rotatably mountable inside the chamber 16. The carriage supports a seam follower 50, an electron gun of the bent column type 52, a wire feeder 55, and driving means 64 for driving the entire carriage assembly around the periphery of the chamber 16. A continuous or unbroken cable 48 is coupled to a reel mechanism 42 for supplying both the power and control of the carriage assembly and welding operation inside the chamber.

The reel mechanism 42 includes a reel drive 59 for rotating the reel 61 in both directions for either paying out or retrieving of the cable 48 in concert and coordination of the traveling of the electron beam carriage assembly. The driving mechanism 59 may be by conventional electric motor which by appropriate electronic control means senses the direction of movement of the carriage assembly to turn the reel 61 in the appropriate direction. The tube 38 provides the coupling means between the chamber 16 and the diffusion pump on the vehicle 14 for evacuating the chamber to the desired pressure levels. A hard point 44 for supporting the entire assembly 16 is provided.

Further detail in FIG. 3 shows the electron beam gun 52 which is well known in the art as described in the patent to Steigerwald 2,987,610. The beam gun 52 is further provided with bending means, electromagnetic deflection coils in the housing 54, for bending the beam at from the original axis and directing the beam at the pipe seam to be welded. The final direction of the electron beam is substantially radial with respect to the pipe axis. The bent column feature may be for instance as illustrated in FIG. 7 of the patent to Opitz et al. 2,944,172. The beam column in this invention is bent a full 90 to conserve space and to minimize contamination of the electron beam gun. Below the electron beam bending apparatus 54 is a lens housing 56 for focusing of the electron beam. Again this lens is conventional so that the electron beam may be focused as desired above or below the seam.

The entire electron beam gun assembly is mounted on a movable carriage 58. This carriage moves on axially spaced annular rails 65. Guide rollers 62 are positioned on both sides of the rails 65 to radially support the entire carriage as it moves around the periphery of the chamber 16. An electric motor 64 with a drive gear 60 in meshing relationship with an annular rack gear 66 provides positive smooth uninterrupted and bidirectional motion of the carriage 58. A positive drive mechanism is provided to maintain the entire carriage in the parked postion. Each compartment of the chamber contains continuous sections of the rack gear and rails to permit continuous peripheral motion. Since the supporting rails must be continuous and yet be capable of segmenting when the chamber 16 is unlocked, the compartments 18, 20 and 22 share portions of the rails, with the portions meshing with one another by careful alignment when the chamber 16 is closed.

In order to provide fully automated welding a seam follower 50 is also mounted on a carriage 58. The seam follower 50 is described in more detail in relation to FIG. 4 and is also supported on the carriage 58. The wire feeder 55 (FIG. 3) comprises a reel 68 containing a supply of the filler wire and supplies this through tube 70. Feed of the wire from the reel 68 is controlled by a suitable mechanical linkage or electrical arrangement operating in synchronization with the traversal of the entire carriage 58 relative to the seam 74. Such control systems the subassembly and deflect the electron beam accordingly. Electron beam deflection may be done by conventional electromagnetic coil deflection means mounted in the housing 56 containing the focusing coil. Below the lens coil housing 56 is a valve (not shown) which is closed when the entre chamber 16 is disengaged from the pipes and the individual com artments are not locked together to protect the gun assembly from dirt, moisture and other contaminants.

In FIGS. 4 and 4A the seam tracker is illustrated in greater detail. The seam tracking wheel 76 is rotatably mounted between members 78 and positioned to roll along the seam 74. Arms 78 extend from a platform 80 which is pivotally mounted to carriage 58 at pivot point 81. This platform 80 supports the wire feed mechanism and is mechanically coupled to the wiper arm 82 of a potentiometer 84 mounted on the carriage 58. The potentiometer 84 is one embodiment of the transducer 72 shown in FIG. 3. The voltage output taken from wiper arm 82 is then applied through a conventional amplifier to the beam deflection coils. The terminals of the potentiometer 84 are respectively coupled to negative and positive voltage supplies through other voltage controlling potentiometers 86 and 88 respectively. Spring means concentric with the pivot 81 urge the wheel 76 towards the surface of the pipes regardless of the annular position of the carriage. In addition, a rocker arm 91 is pivotably mounted relative to the platform 80 although coupled thereto by means of compressible springs 93 and 95. A clockwise rotation of the rocker arm 91 about pivot point 81 compresses spring 93 and a counterclockwise rotation compresses spring 95. Extension arms 90 and 92 are provided each of which is pivotably mounted to the rocker arm 91 at points 94 and 96 in such manner that for the travel of the seam tracking wheel 76 in a clockwise direction these arms present a fixed extension of the rocker arm 91 in contact with the cams 108 and 106 via cam followers 102 and 104. The springs 98 and 100 are in tension and tend to urge the extension arms 90 and 92 in their fixed position.

The surfaces of the cams 106 and 108 are provided with raised surfaces 110 and depressed surfaces 112 and the cams which are annularly placed in the side walls of the compartments of the chamber 16 are offset with respect to one another so that the transition from a raised to a depressed surface are not encountered by the rollers 102 and 104 at the same time as the entire mechanism travels in a clockwise direction.

It can thus be seen that as the seam tracker travels in a clockwise direction the seam tracker wheel 76 will sweep across the surfaces of the pipes and 12 in an axial direction seeking the seam 74. When it encounters the seam some additional force will be needed to drive the wheel through the seam 74 and this force will be applied by the rocker arm 91 and its extension 90 and 92. However, the springs 93 and 95 will have sufficient resilience to compress and take up this additional force from the cam followers and prevent the seam tracking wheel from being forced out of the seam after this has been located.

A variable search range of the seam tracker arrangement is provided by gradually changing the magnitude of the transitions on the cams as the seam tracker traverses the seam in the clockwise direction. Upon the initiation of the welding cycle the seam tracker travels in a counterclockwise direction and as the extension arms 90 and 92 encounter raised portions of the cams the. pivoting mounts 94 and 96 permit the arms to fold back. The pivoting points 94 and 96 and the pivoting points of the springs 98 and 100 are so adjusted that upon the counter rotation of the seam tracker for welding, the springs allow the extension arms to pivot away from the cams surfaces. If required, by a simple hand lever means (not shown) the extension arms may be made to reengage the cams surfaces. Prealignment of the beam with the seam tracker may be done with conventional alignment means by adjustment of otentiometers 86 and 88.

Upon the initiation of the welding cycle any deviation of the same tracker from the seam position is sensed by the arm 82 and potentiometer 84 and the signal is applied to the deflection coils of the electron beam to produce a corresponding deflection thereof. By placing the roller 76 close to the impingement point of the electron beam 11 a memory device compensating for the small distance between the actual welding point and the seam trackers indication of the seam position point will not be necessary. Abrupt variations of the seam are not expected.

The power required to operate the electron beam gun as well as the carriage 58 and the. associated components is supplied through a double reel system shown in FIG. 5. The reel assembly 42 is located in the fixed compartment 20 of the chamber 16 as illustrated in FIG. 1. The continuous cable 48 includes the high voltage lead in and the control cables and is introduced into the chamber 14 by a unique but simple double reel device. A first compartment 114 is provided which is in communication with the evacuated portion of the chamber 16. A second compartment 116 in contact with the ambient is provided and both compartments 114 and 116 are coupled through a passage 118. This passage 118 is the hollow axle of the reel 42 and provisions are made to allow the cable 48 to enter this axle from both compartments 114 and 116. Inside the passage 118 the coaxial cable 48 is hermetically sealed to the walls of the passage by a suitable compound 120. Since both compartments 114 and 116 jointly rotate a rotatable seal 122 is provided. The rotatable seal may be of the double seal type with the space in between at least partially evacuated to assure minimum leakage and permit the maintenance of a higher vacuum inside. the entire chamber 16. The cables 48 are wound on the reels in the compartments 114 and 116 in such a manner that they wind and unwind simultaneously. FIG. 6 illustrates how the cables are wound. As shown in FIG. 6 the cable 48 need not communicate between compartments 114 and 116 through the hollow shaft passage 118 but could be wound outside it, provided a hermetic seal between the compartments is maintained. The winding of the. continuous cables is important to eliminate twisting of the cables as the electron beam traverses around the periphery of the pipe and most significantly eliminates the requirement of sliding electrical contacts. As the inside portion of the cables 48 in compartment 114 is payed out a similar paying out of the external cable in compartment 118 will occur. Similarly when the inside cable is retrieved the outside portion is also retrieved. As illustrated in FIG. 2 a constant torque motor 59 is utilized on the reel via a drive sprocket 126 to maintain constant tension for rewinding of the cable during the welding cycle. The takeup torque on the motor 59 will be just sufficient to retrieve the paid out cable but not provide any positive drive that might disturb the traversal of the. electron beam around the pipe.

As illustrated in FIG. 1 an alignment clamp 32 is positioned inside pipe 12 and has a front end portion for receiving the pipe segment 10 to be welded to the pipeline 12. In FIG. 7 a schematic representation of the arrangement during the welding process is shown. The chamber 16 straddles the pipes 10 and 12 and of course the seam '74 with an annular evacuated environment. The alignment tool 32 is provided with several sealing means on the inside of the pipe to complete the evacuated annular chamber. Both the chamber 16 and the sealing means in the alignment tube. contain inflatable seals 128. The seals on the outside of the pipes 10 and 12 are pressurized from a source originating from the vehicle 14. The seals on the inside of the pipe in the alignment tool are pressurized from a pressure source inside the tool (not shown). Immediately under the seam 74 is a small recess and an expendable, sacrificial ring 132. Adjacent to the recess 130 are inflatable seals 128 and spaced therefrom a sufficient distance to prevent them from being affected by the high temperatures encountered when welding. On both sides of the seam 74 are clamping mechanisms arranged in an annular fashion to aid in the rounding of the pipe 10 and 12 as well as to maintain their relative positions during the welding operation. The clamping means are not a part of this invention and therefore are not set forth in greater detail. Since the abutting edges of the pipe 10 and 12 along the seam 74 do not completely mate with one another the gaps provide passage means communicating between the recess 130 and the chamber 16 and there is no need to pump out the air from the recess 130 by a separate vacuum pumping device. The evacuation of the recess may be relied upon by the pumping mechanism active on the chamber 16 and affecting the recess 130 through the various gaps between the abutting surfaces of the pipes.

Differential pumping may be provided for obtaining improved sealing between the double seals on each side of the seam 74. Such intermediate pumping which may be accomplished by conventional roughing pumps rather than expensive diffusion pumps will :aid in the maintenance of a high vacuum within the annular chamber. The sacrificial ring 132 is easily separable from the alignment clamp and its function is to absorb any protruding electron beams through the seam 74 that would otherwise destroy underlying portions of the alignment tool 32. The ring is a low cost item which may easily be changed.

The sealing arrangement between the chamber compartments 18, 20 and 22 as Well as between them and the pipe comprises a novel combination of inflatable and flat seals. The pipe facing walls of the compartments are provided with inflatable seals and the walls facing adjacent compartments are provided with fiat noninflatable seals.

In the operation of the electron beam pipe Welder the edges of the pipes to be joined are cleaned to remove excessive oil, rust or dirt and the outside edges of the pipes are provided with a small bevel to accommodate the seam follower. This pipe can be manufactured with a bevel. In the meantime the locating ring 24 is properly spaced from the edge of the pipe 10 after which the pipe 10 is fitted over the alignment tool 32 and made to abut the edge of pipe 12. At this time the clamping tool performs its function of rounding the pipe 12. Thereupon the three compartmented chamber 16 is lowered over the seam 74 and positioned adjacent the edge 26 of the locating ring 24 so that thereby the sea-m will be within deflectable limits of the electron beam. Inflatable seals of the chamber 16 as well as those actuating on the inside of pipe 10- are pressurized and the compartments are firmly clamped together. The electron gun and the carriage assembly are located within the fixed segment 20 and the working cycle is commenced with a pretravel movement around the periphery of the pipe both for paying out the cable 48 and to seek and track the seam 74 with the seam follower. The chamber 16 is being pumped while the carriage assembly performs its pretravel cycle, thus saving time and upon completion of the pretravel step the entire system is ready for the weld pass. Appropriate controls for the electron gun are actuated upon the reaching of the desired vacuum and the location of the beam upon the seam as controlled by the seam follower so that the welding operation in accordance with the teachings of the welding process described in the patent to Steigerwald 2,987,610 can be commenced. As the beam welds the seam it may be deflected in circular fashion to aid in the circulation of the filler material throughout the fusion zone to obtain a high quality weld.

It can thus be seen that a unique electron beam pipe welding apparatus is provided to perform the entire welding operation with a single weld pass. The associated advantages both in economy as well as reliability and safety are quite significant. The advantages of eliminating sliding electrical contacting devices for communicating from outside to inside of the evacuated chamber greatly enhances the utility of the pipe welder device.

The novel apparatus may also be employed to perform the welding of large pipes from the inside, In such event there is no need to segment the chamber 16. The novel features of this invention may then be employed to advantageously weld with an orbiting beam of electrons.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiment herein illustrated and described but may be used in other ways without departure from its spirit as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A device for welding abutting pipe sections with a beam of charged particles comprising:

means for establishing a closed environment within the abutting ends of the pipe sections,

an annular segmentable chamber shaped to externally enclose the abutting pipe sections in an evacuated environment,

said chamber being provided with annular segmentable supporting rail,

a carriage movably mounted on the annular supporting rail for movement inside the chamber over the pipe seam,

means for generating a beam of charged particles mounted on said carriage with the beam radially directed to the axis of the pipe and onto the vicinity of the pipe seam,

means associated with the generating means and mounted on said carriage for deflecting the beam transverse to the pipe seam,

a wire feeder mounted on the carriage for supplying wire to the seam,

a seam follower mounted on the carriage and providing signal indicative of the location of the seam and directing the signal to the beam deflecting means for deflection thereof,

means mounted on the carriage for providing annular bidirectional travel thereof,

said chamber comprising first and second segments hingeably connected to one another,

sealing means attached to the chamber for sealing of the chamber.

2. A device for welding large pipe sections to one another with a beam of charged particles comprising in combination:

first chamber means shaped to engage the internal surfaces of the pipe for forming a first chamber between the pipe sections at the weld seam,

first sealing means connected with the first chamber means for sealing the first chamber,

second annular chamber means for surrounding the pipe at the Weld seam and having a pipe facing wall, side walls and a rear wall,

said pipe facing wall being shaped to externally engage the pipe sections to be welded,

second sealing means in said pipe facing wall for sealing the second chamber means with the pipe when the welding operation is taking place,

an annular supporting rail mounted internal to the second chamber means,

a carriage movably mounted on the supporting rail for annular travel in the second chamber means,

means for producing a beam of charged particles in a radial direction with respect to the axis of the pipe and mounted on the carriage,

means for deflecting the produced beam along the axis of the pipe,

seam following means mounted on the carriage for producing a signal indicative of the position of the pipe seam and applying the seam signal to the beam defleeting means to direct the beam at the seam,

driving means for moving the carriage around the annular supporting rail,

continuous cabling means electrically coupled to the beam generating means, the driving means and the seam following means to supply signals for controlling the welding operation in the second annular chamber means, said cabling means being rotatably mounted on the chamber means and in sealed relationship therewith,

and wire feeding means mounted on the carriage for supplying wire to the weld seam in coordination with the annular travel of the carriage.

3. A device as recited in claim 2 wherein said second chamber means comprises first and second compartments having walls facing each other,

hinging and locking means for connecting said first and second compartments to one another,

where said compartments share the pipe facing wall,

said second sealing means extended to said facing compartment walls,

and where said supporting rail has meshing portions attached to the compartments.

4. A device as recited in claim 3 and further comprising:

a supporting member pivotally mounted on the carriage for pivoting radially with respect to the pipe axis and across the pipe seam,

said seam following and wire feeding means being mounted on the supporting member.

5. A device as recited in claim 4 wherein said beam deflecting means includes a deflection coil for deflecting the beam, and where said seam follower means includes transducer means producing an electrical signal indicative of the location of the seam for application to the beam deflection coil to deflect the beam towards the seam.

6. A device as recited in claim 5 wherein said second chamber means further includes:

a fixed third compartment having a pipe facing wall and interposed between the first and second compartments, said first and second compartments being hingeably coupled to the third compartment and where said,

second sealing means extends between said fixed third compartment and said first and second compartment and,

said supporting rail has a meshing portion attached to the third fixed compartment.

7. A device as recited in claim 6 wherein said driving means is mounted on the carriage and includes,

an electric motor,

a driving gear driven by the motor,

an annular rack gear meshed with said driving gear,

said rack gear being distributed with meshing portions inside the first, second and third compartments of the second annular chamber means.

8. A device as recited in claim 7 where the size of the third compartment is sufficient to substantially enclose the entire carriage assembly for protection and safe keeping thereof.

9. A device as recited in claim 8 where said second sealing means on the pipe facing walls comprises inflatable seals and said second sealing means between the compartments are fiat seals.

10. A device as recited in claim '9 wherein said continuous cabling means is mounted to said third compartment of the annular chamber.

11. A device as recited in claim 10 wherein said beam producing means comprises:

means generating a beam of electrons and second means deflecting the beam substantially 90 in a radial direction at the pipe welding seam, said second beam deflecting means mounted between the electron beam generating means and the deflection coil.

12. A device as recited in claim 3 and further including:

a locating ring attached to the pipe to be welded and defining an edge having a known spatial relationship from the seam to be welded.

13. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the first chamber means includes an expendable, sacrificial, annular member positioned concentrically within the first annular chamber for exposure to the beam of charged particles.

14. A method for welding a pipe seam with a generator of a beam of charged particles located in an annular vacuum chamber on an annular traveling carriage and controlled in its operation from outside the chamber through an interconnecting electrical cable comprising placing the annular chamber around the pipe seam to be welded,

urging a seam tracker and seeker towards and in contact with the pipe,

pre-traveling the beam generator in a first direction around the annular pipe seam a distance at least commensurate with the seam to be welded by the beam,

tracking the seam and paying out the interconnecting cable during said pre-travel step,

tracking the seam and retrieving said cable during the welding of the seam in a reversed direction from said first direction.

15. A method as recited in claim 14 and further comprising:

evacuating said annular chamber during the Pre-travel of the beam.

16. A method as recited in claim 15 wherein the step of placing the chamber around the pipe seam further comprises the step of aligning the annular chamber prior to the pre-travel step within deflectable limits of the beam of charged particles.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,293,079 8/1942 Ranke 314-69 3,035,156 5/1962 Staley 219- 3,119,009 1/1964 Zeller 219-125 3,136,882 6/1964 Radtke 219-121 3,136,883 6/1964 Radtke 219-121 3,165,619 1/1965 Cohen 219-121 3,192,301 6/1965 Sterzl 219-121 3,194,936 7/1965 Rohrberg et al. 219-60 3,194,937 7/1965 Brons et al. 219-60 3,209,118 9/1965 Dyer et al. 219-60 3,219,792 11/1965 Pederson 219-121 3,261,529 7/1966 Pagan 219- 3,264,004 8/1966 Sciaky 219-121 3,301,993 1/1967 Boyd et al. 219-121 3,395,262 7/ 1968 Kazlauskas 219-60 JOSEPH V. TRUHE, Primary Examiner W. D. BROOKS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

